Frequently Asked Questions

1. How will the internship scheme work?
2. How long do internship placements last for?
3. What kind of activities could a company organise for an internship?
4. How will the mentoring scheme work?
5. What should happen during the meetings between a mentor and their students?
6. What will the follow-up from the mentoring be?
7. What is the cost to companies taking part in the schemes?
8. Why is there a charge to participate? What value do participating companies get for this investment?
9. What are the contractual arrangements?
10. What do companies have to pay the students they employ?
11. Can companies participate in just one of the schemes?
12. Can this scheme work alongside a company’s existing internship opportunities?
13. How do I get involved in the schemes?
14. Are overseas students eligible to do an internship over the summer?

1. How will the internship scheme work?

The following timeline shows how the scheme will work.

By early September 2012

1. Company to confirm to the Faculty that it wants to participate in the internship scheme.
2. Company to confirm how many internships are on offer and preferred timings for interviews to take place.

Mid-October 2012 to mid-March 2013

1. Details of companies participating in scheme promoted to students with timeline of applications and interview dates.
2. The Faculty to arrange interview slots for each company to take place at the University.
3. Students to submit applications for companies they are interested in and the Faculty to forwards batches of applications to companies.
4. Companies review applications and interview shortlisted candidates.

Late June to end of September 2013

• Student undertakes internship with company.

(Back to top)

2. How long do internship placements last for?

Internships are typically eight weeks in duration, but can be shorter or longer depending upon your company requirements, but we would ask that to enable the students to have a meaningful experience, it lasts for at least four weeks. The students will undertake their internship during their summer vacation, which runs from 24th June until the end of September (2013).

(Back to top)

3. What kind of activities could a company organise for an internship?

The type of activities a student might be expected to carry out on an internship will vary greatly depending on the nature of the industry and organisation involved; however, the aim of an internship is to ensure that students learn about different aspects of a company and experience real working life. Possible examples could be as follows:

• Complete an internal project that has been left unfinished, kick start a project that has been on your agenda for a while, or provide support on an existing project that needs extra resources
• Participate in the design, development, testing or documentation of a new technology product
• Project based activity in design, analysis or manufacturing in order to understand the project life cycle
• Assisting in generating concepts, design calculations, testing of prototypes, analysis and reporting
• Field work including assisting in installations
• Review current methodologies being used on a project, with a view to adapting this for usage on other projects.

Please remember that the students will have completed their first year of study and may require support and/or training to perform some tasks.

(Back to top)

4. How will the mentoring scheme work?

The following timeline shows how the scheme will work.

By the end of October 2012

• Company to confirm to the Faculty that it wants to participate and to confirm how many mentors will be able to participate.

Early November 2012 to mid-May 2013 (dates TBC)

1. The Faculty matches students to industrial mentor (a maximum of 5 students per industrial mentor, but ideally 3 or 4).
2. The Faculty arranges an initial meeting at the University between industrial mentor and their students (over a buffet dinner), in departmental groups (i.e. all Mechanical Engineering students will meet their mentors at one evening event). At this event, the mentor and their group of students will agree a time for the first of their independent meetings (see below).
3. Each group of students to agree a 'group leader' to liaise with the industrial mentor about timings and arrangements for subsequent meetings.

Mid-June 2013 to December 2013

1. Mentor and students meet two additional times (at company office or site locations).
2. We suggest that one of these meetings could happen after the exam period but before the official end of term (i.e. in June 2013).
3. The second meeting should be in Autumn Term (October-December 2013). Students in some departments have study weeks during this term, which would be a good time to schedule the meetings; otherwise, students have been given dispensation to miss some some teaching to have meetings with their industrial mentors.

Please note that the timing for the Civil Engineering scheme differs slightly and the initial meeting between mentor and student takes place at the University on Tuesday 13th November 2012. To find out more please visit the Civil Engineering web pages.

(Back to top)

5. What should happen during the meetings between a mentor and their students?

The aim of industrial mentoring is simple – we want our students to understand more about real life work in engineering, or engineering-related, industry. Ideally we would like them to be inspired and excited by what they experience, but the most important thing is that they get some genuine insight into life as an engineer.

How this insight is achieved will depend very much on the company and the industry that the company is part of, but some ideas follow.

• Visits to a site where a project is being carried out.
• Tours of manufacturing or testing facilities.
• Demonstrations of a software tool that the mentor uses on a day-to-day basis.
• General and informal seminars / Q & A sessions and discussions on:
  • the industry in which the company works and the company’s place in that industry;
  • how the professional bodies in the industry work – and about gaining chartered status;
  • careers within that industry – what the different options are;
  • the mentor’s own career – how they chose their career path.
• Specific sessions taking students through a project that the mentor is working on, or has worked on, explaining:
  • how the work was obtained by the company;
  • what the brief from the client was;
  • the various stages in meeting that brief and carrying out the project.

NB – mentors should be aware that first-year students are likely to have a limited knowledge of industry, so explanations should be pitched accordingly.

(Back to top)

6. What will the follow-up from the mentoring be?

• E-mail contact between mentor and students may take place in between visits, and if all goes well we would hope that beyond the mentoring scheme the contact could lead to further opportunities such as internship or sponsorship for the mentored students.
• We will contact all industrial mentors in December 2013 to confirm that two meetings have taken place, and to establish whether they wish to take part again next year.
• If companies wish to explore other engagement opportunities with the Faculty, then they can contact the Industrial Liaison Office at any time.

(Back to top)

7. What is the cost to companies taking part in the schemes?

• For the 2012/13 academic year, participation in the mentoring scheme is free of charge (other than, in some cases, costs noted below).
• If the mentoring meetings incur transportation (or other) costs to students, we request that the company reimburses students for these costs (e.g. if the mentor invites the students to come to a site or office and the students have to take public transport to get there). These arrangements should be agreed between the students and their mentor before any visits are undertaken.
• For the pilot year of our scheme during the 2012/2013 academic year, we are asking those companies who participate in the internship scheme for a voluntary contribution of £200 (per company) towards the cost of the administration of the scheme. 
• Companies are encouraged to offer scholarships to students following internships – this can be an effective way of keeping a student interested in your company. This is not, however, a requirement of the scheme and would not be a binding arrangement for the student involved.
• If you are a small company (250 or fewer employees), and want to participate in the internship scheme, you might also be eligible to be part of another University internship scheme, which pays £1,000 towards the costs of taking on a student intern.

(Back to top)

8. Why is there a charge to participate? What value do participating companies get for this investment?

• For the pilot year of our scheme during the 2012/2013 academic year, we are asking each participating company to make a voluntary contribution of £200 towards the costs of funding the internship scheme so that we can continue this and other schemes in the future.
• Funding is currently very limited for this kind of activity, but if each participating company pays a small amount, this, and other schemes that are of benefit to our industrial partners, can continue and develop in the future.  However, for this first year of the scheme, we would like to encourage as many companies as possible to participate in the scheme, so we would not want this to dissuade a company from involvement. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this further.
• We will give those companies who are paying members of the internship scheme priority access when it comes to other Industrial Liaison Office activities with the Faculty of Engineering (see  Why Get Involved?).
• Companies typically spend to recruit students in conventional ways (such as attending exhibitions, placing advertisements, hiring recruitment consultants, and giving recruitment presentations on campus) – we believe that these schemes will complement that activity and will prove to be as, if not more, effective than those standard ways to recruit, and ultimately more cost-effective.

(Back to top)

9. What are the contractual arrangements?

• For companies participating in the internship scheme, we require you to sign a simple contract with the University, which sets out what we would expect from a student internship; this will be provided to you nearer the time of the internship interviews if you sign up to the scheme.
• For companies participating in the mentoring scheme, there are no formal contractual arrangements.

(Back to top)

10. What do companies have to pay the students they employ?

• The Faculty requires student internships offered by companies to be paid at least the national minimum wage. Most companies will pay more, but the scheme is designed to be flexible and if you would like to discuss this with the Faculty please contact us.

(Back to top)

11. Can companies participate in just one of the schemes?

Yes, the schemes are flexible and can adapt to suit your company's needs. For example, you can participate in both schemes or just one; you can roll them into existing schemes or launch them as new initiatives; you can continue contact with students you employ or mentor; you can even engage students for future years by offering financial sponsorship or a bursary to assist them with their studies, thus providing a mechanism for investment in benefitting students and raising your company’s profile.

(Back to top)

12. Can this scheme work alongside a company’s existing internship opportunities?

Yes, but the aim of this new initiative is to arrange specific internship opportunities for Faculty students to apply for. The process that you would follow for the recruitment and selection of these students can fit with your existing Human Resources processes and the Faculty would support this process by co-ordinating the applications and arranging interviews on campus.

If, however, you are unable to offer specific opportunities for Bristol students, but would still like to publicise your existing internship opportunities to Bristol students, the University’s Careers Service can assist you with this.

(Back to top)

13. How do I get involved in the schemes?

If you are interested in participating in either or both of the schemes, please download the application form, complete the information and return to us by e-mailing engf-ilo@bristol.ac.uk . Once you have returned your form, we will be in touch to finalise details with you.

(Back to top)

14. Are overseas students eligible to do an internship over the summer?

Yes, please see the UK Border Agency website and the UK Council for Student Affairs website for full details. Both these websites make clear that overseas students on a Tier 4 visa are permitted to work full-time during their vacations whilst they are studying at University. If you have any further queries regarding this issue, please contact us directly.